Every Original Star Trek Crew Member Who Appeared On The Twilight Zone

At a glance, most people might not associate “Star Trek” and “The Twilight Zone,” but the truth is that each series has the other imbedded in the fabric of its successful, multi-season run. Countless “Twilight Zone” actors later made appearances in “Star Trek: The Original Series,” and plenty of others have turned up in another “Star Trek” franchise entry — such as “Voyager,” “The Next Generation,” or “Deep Space Nine” — as well as one of the later “Twilight Zone” reboots.

The first time around, “Twilight Zone” actors appeared as civilians, various Starfleet members, and an array of sci-fi entities across “Star Trek: The Original Series,” with the full list of actors running nearly 70 names long. Among them were Julie Newmar, Robert Lansing, and Rex Holman. When it comes to the core Enterprise crew members, however, only four actors who starred on “TOS” previously had roles on the classic horror anthology series. 

Leonard Nimoy already had a pretty sizable resume by the time he landed on “The Twilight Zone” in the show’s third season — and he would go on to do more sci-fi projects after the end of “Star Trek: The Original Series.” His “Twilight Zone” episode was the fifteenth of the season, titled “A Quality of Mercy.” The story follows a high-ranking soldier who is clued into the perspective of the enemy, giving him a much-needed lesson in the power of empathy. 

That said, the man in question wasn’t actually Nimoy. Dean Stockwell starred in the episode as the central Lieutenant Katell, while Nimoy appeared as Hansen, an American soldier serving alongside Katell. It was a small role, but the ensemble element is always crucial to a story about groups of soldier at war. Luckily, Nimoy shined in the episode, which aired about five years before “The Original Series” began.

George Takei became an icon of Asian-American actors who have crossed over into the mainstream over the course of television and film history — so it makes sense that he would have appeared in a “The Twilight Zone” episode that puts the complex nature of race at its center. Takei starred in “The Encounter,” the 31st episode of Season 5.

“The Encounter” unfolds as a two-handed battle of wills between an American man and a Japanese man, who each confront the other’s guilt by way of a haunting Samurai sword in a post-World War II landscape. Takei led the episode as Arthur Takamori alongside Neville Brand as Fenton; their incredible performances and the intimate setting make the episode feel like a piece of live theater. It’s also a challenging and complicated story — so much so, in fact, that it was the only original “Twilight Zone” episode to be withheld from syndication (until 2016, that is).

Captain James T. Kirk himself has been in not one, but two “Twilight Zone” episodes — and, naturally, both are excellent. William Shatner first starred in Season 2, Episode 7, titled “Nick of Time,” which centers on a married couple who become fixated on a fortune-telling machine and its uncanny predictive qualities. Shatner plays Don S. Carter in the episode, one half of the couple in question.

Yet Shatner’s appearance in “Nick of Time” has been somewhat overshadowed by his second “Twilight Zone” episode. Shatner — one of many movie stars to appear on the show — also starred in Season 5, Episode 5, the iconic “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” This episode finds his character trapped on a plane, struggling to inform his fellow passengers about a monster on the aircraft’s wing. The episode hinges on Shatner’s believably intense performance, and it has since gone on to be considered one of the best of the series.

Prior to his time as Scotty on “Star Trek: The Original Series,” James Doohan appeared in Season 4, Episode 3 of “The Twilight Zone.” The episode, titled “Valley of the Shadow,” focuses on a journalist who finds himself being held captive in a small town harboring a miraculous secret — that they have the technology to reverse death.

Doohan took on a small role in the 1963 episode, playing a townsperson named Johnson (sometimes credited as Father). His part wasn’t anything like the focused and dedicated Scottish character he would become known for just three years later in “TOS,” but he was able to flex his acting skills in a role that added to the episode’s unsettling tone. And while it’s not exactly one of the most beloved or well-remembered episodes of the series, it’s still a must-watch for fans of both “Star Trek” and “The Twilight Zone.”